From which king’s reign did the Tran dynasty begin to weaken?

Tran Du Tong (1336-1369) was the seventh emperor of the Tran dynasty. He and his predecessor, Tran Hien Tong, were the children of Emperor Tran Minh Tong.

King Tran Hien Tong fell ill and died at the age of 23. Because he did not have a son, Emperor Tran Minh Tong appointed Tran Hien Tong’s younger brother Tran Hao (ie Tran Du Tong) to the throne. Tran Du Tong was the 10th son of Emperor Tran Minh Tong, born to Empress Hien Tu.

Tran Du Tong became king in 1341, when he was only 5 years old, taking the era name Thieu Phong. Before that, when Tran Du Tong was 3 years old, he drowned and was saved by a doctor.

In the early days when the king succeeded to the throne, everything in the court was still handled by the emperor Tran Minh Tong. In the last years of Emperor Tran Minh Tong’s life (he died in 1357), King Tran Du Tong was the new consul.

According to Dai Viet historical records, in September 1353, Champa went to rob Hoa Chau – the land that was previously offered to Dai Viet as the bridegroom of Princess Huyen Tran, son of King Tran Nhan Tong. King Du Tong at that time sent his army to chase Champa, but the situation was unfavorable. The king sent Truong Han Sieu to bring the Than Sach army to defend this Hoa Chau area and return to peace.

Before the incident in Hoa Chau, King Tran Du Tong took great care of the training of soldiers and martial arts. In 1351, the king personally visited Thien An palace, approved the banning army in Long Tri. In the spring of 1353, the king sent a mat to the princes to build warships, make weapons, and train soldiers. The king also took care of the country.

“The king is intelligent, well educated, takes care of martial arts, fixes his literary work, all the gods are in service. Thieu Phong’s reign, good things. From the year of Dai Tri (the year of Tran Du Tong was given after King Minh Tong died) later, playing too much, the Tran dynasty’s inheritance has been weakened since then”, the book Dai Viet historical record assessed.

According to Dai Viet history book, in 1358 there was a drought, rice worms bitten rice, and many fish died. The king came down to encourage the rich in the streets to give rice to the poor. The local mandarins calculate how much rice is spent and then return it in cash.

In 1359, it rained heavily, the water was heavy, all the houses of the people were swept away, and the rice paddy was flooded. In 1362, both drought and heavy rain caused famine. King Du Tong came down to exempt the whole country from half of that year’s tax. At the same time, he also went to the mat for the rich to offer rice to the poor, in return, he would give them different hierarchical titles. When the king came to stay at Thien Truong palace (Nam Dinh), anyone who got sick came, they would be given medicine and rice money.

King Tran Du Tong had benevolence to save the people from hunger. However, he only took care of the immediate work without considering long-term plans to overcome floods and droughts such as building dikes and opening canals. The construction of dikes to treat water in the reign of King Tran Thai Tong was very important.

King Tran Du Tong from the age of 26 started playing games. “In the winter of October, dig a lake in the garden to live in the harem. In the lake arranged with rocks to make mountains, the four veins are open to flow together. On the lake grow pine, bamboo and all kinds of fragrant flowers and exotic herbs. Again raise precious birds. , strange animals in it. West of the lake planted two cinnamon trees, built Song Que palace… Again dug another small lake.Send Hai Dong people to carry salt water into it, bring in sea creatures such as tortoiseshells, crabs, etc. fish raised in the lake. Again, Hoa Chau people brought crocodiles to release them. There was Thanh Ngu lake to release the secondary fish. Set the position of guest capital to look after”, recorded Dai Viet history book.

In 1362, the king ordered the princes and princesses to offer anecdotes to see and review which games would be rewarded. The king again called the rich in the country into the palace to gamble for fun. “There is a reputation of silver placing up to 300 francs in money, three hours is already close to a thousand francs,” writes Dai Viet history book.

“The law of the Tran dynasty strictly forbade gambling, but in the reign of Du Tong, he openly did wrong, called the rich to the palace to gamble, and then the domestic people imitated that bad thing, it could not be prevented anymore. Finally. Because of bad gambling, he lost his country,” commented historian Phan Phu Tien.

In the following years, he indulged in drinking, playing and neglecting water work. “The king called the wing of Vinh An palace, Bui Khoan, and drank wine. He made up a trick to drink and pretend to drink all 100 pounds of wine, and was rewarded. In May, the king went to enjoy the wind and play on the moon. Because he drank too much, he waded into the river to bathe. sick …”, recorded Dai Viet history book.

Chu Van An was invited by Emperor Tran Minh Tong to be a private (principal) Quoc Tu Giam, teacher of King Tran Hien Tong. He was famous as a good scholar and an honest mandarin.

Witnessing the corruption raging in the reign of King Du Tong, Chu Van An wrote “The Seven Tributes” to the king, asking to cut 7 corrupt officials. However, King Tran Du Tong ignored his request. Chu Van An then asked for permission to return to his hometown to teach. The Tran Dynasty fell deeper into the crisis.

“The king knows how to respect his teacher, but he doesn’t discuss the country with him. So the sage should not just do it because Chu Van An is gone, there is no longer anyone to tell the king or the righteous. That’s not true. If you believe in a sage, the country is as empty as if there were no people,” commented historian Ngo Si Lien in the Dai Viet history book.

The book of Dai Viet history records: In June, 1366, the king rode in a small boat to visit second lieutenant Tran Ngo Lang’s house in the Me So village, and did not return until the third watch. When he reached the Chu Gia river, he was robbed of his treasure seal and precious sword. The king knows he won’t live long, the more he relaxes to play.”

In 1369, King Tran Du Tong died. Before he was about to die, because he had no children, he went down to welcome Nhat Le to join the great family. Nhat Le was originally the son of the Duong family. Duong Khuong’s wife, while pregnant, was forced to marry by Cung Tuc Dai Vuong Duc (the eldest son of King Tran Minh Tong) because of his passion for beauty. When Nhat Le was born, Cung Tuc Dai Vuong Duc adopted him as his son.

Duong Nhat Le was king for a year. Because of his plan to erase the Tran Dynasty and establish the Duong Dynasty, he was overthrown by Tran Minh Tong’s son, Tran Phu. In 1370, Tran Phu ascended the throne, taking the name Tran Nghe Tong.